USMLE & COMLEX Tutor in Lubbock

Lubbock is home to the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, a public MD school founded in 1969 whose main campus is here (school list). It has held LCME accreditation since 1971 and its next full survey falls in 2032-33 (LCME).

The school is a Texas school in the plainest sense: 5,348 applications came in for its 182 first-year seats in 2025-26, and 95.6% of the class that enrolled were Texans (AAMC FACTS). Two Lubbock hospitals appear on the CMS teaching hospital list, Covenant Medical Center and University Medical Center (CMS teaching hospital list).

Facts about Lubbock

Accreditation: LCME directory; applications, places and in-state share: AAMC FACTS, Table A-1.

ABIM internal medicine certification exam by residency program: ABIM residency program pass rates.

• Texas Tech's four-year MD runs in three phases: about 18 months of pre-clerkship study taught as a one-pass, organ-system curriculum, then six core clerkships, then advanced clinical training and preparation for residency. (Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center)
• For Phase 2 each Texas Tech student moves to one of four clinical campuses, Lubbock, Amarillo, Covenant or Odessa, and takes six eight-week clerkships one discipline at a time: internal medicine, surgery, family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and psychiatry. (Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center)
• Texas Tech's Phase 3 asks for a one-month sub-internship, a 2-week critical care rotation, a 2-week ambulatory rotation and five months of electives, which may be taken on any TTUHSC campus or at LCME-accredited schools in the US. (Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center)
• Texas Tech's Family Medicine Accelerated Track is a 3-year MD that leads into a standard 3-year family medicine residency in Lubbock, Amarillo or Odessa, and the school says the program was the first of its kind. (Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center)
• FMAT students take an 8-week course in June and July between Year 1 and Year 2, then a longitudinal family medicine clerkship from August to March of Year 2 that is graded in part by a shelf exam. (Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center)
• FMAT's 16-week capstone, from March to June of Year 3, includes time for Step 2 preparation and the exam itself. (Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center)

Sources: LCME, directory of accredited U.S. programs (checked October 29, 2026); AAMC FACTS, Table A-1, 2025-2026 (checked October 29, 2026); Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) (checked November 1, 2026); Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Family Medicine Accelerated Track (FMAT) (checked November 1, 2026); ABIM, residency program pass rates 2023-2025 (checked October 29, 2026).

One Lubbock class, four clinical campuses

Texas Tech teaches its first phase, about 18 months long, as a single pass through the organ systems: two foundational blocks on anatomy, biochemistry, microbiology and the other basic sciences, then five Organ Systems blocks that pair normal function with pathology (Texas Tech MD program). Because each system is taught once, the Step 1 material from the first blocks is more than a year old by the time the clerkships begin, so we build spaced review of those early blocks into a Lubbock student's plan well before any dedicated study period.

For Phase 2 the class splits across four campuses, Lubbock, Amarillo, Covenant and Odessa, and each student takes six clerkships of eight weeks, one discipline at a time: internal medicine, surgery, family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and psychiatry (Texas Tech MD program). Each of those six ends in its own NBME subject exam, so a Texas Tech student meets six shelf exams in a row, on whichever campus they were sent to.

Eight-week blocks give a little more room than the six-week blocks many schools use, but the shelf still arrives on a fixed date. We plan each block in three parts: the first weeks on the rotation's highest-yield topics, a middle stretch of timed question sets, and the last week on an NBME practice form and the student's own error log. The same log carries forward into Step 2 CK, which draws on all six disciplines at once.

Phase 3 then asks for a one-month sub-internship, two weeks each of critical care and ambulatory medicine, and five months of electives, which can be taken on any TTUHSC campus or at another LCME-accredited school (Texas Tech MD program).

The three-year family medicine track and its exams

Texas Tech also runs the Family Medicine Accelerated Track, a three-year MD that feeds straight into a three-year family medicine residency in Lubbock, Amarillo or Odessa; the school says it was the first program of its kind (FMAT). Students can apply with their TMDSAS application or during the winter of their first year.

The compressed calendar changes the exam order. FMAT students take an eight-week course in June and July after Year 1, then a longitudinal family medicine clerkship from August to March of Year 2 that is graded partly by a shelf exam, so the family medicine shelf comes a full year earlier than for classmates on the four-year track (FMAT). Their last block, a 16-week capstone from March to June of Year 3, holds the time for Step 2 preparation and the exam itself.

That leaves an FMAT student with less slack than anyone else in the building: a family medicine shelf in the middle of Year 2 while the basic sciences are still being taught, and Step 2 CK inside a capstone that also covers critical care and inpatient family medicine. When we tutor FMAT students we plan the whole three years at once, so the shelf and Step 2 CK each get their own protected weeks.

Medical school in Lubbock

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine lists 550 students on Wikipedia.

School list: LCME and COCA lists, via the list of medical schools in the United States, checked October 2026.

Teaching hospitals in Lubbock

On the CMS teaching hospital list (October 2026):

• Covenant Medical Center, 3615 19th St, Lubbock, TX 79410
• University Medical Center, 602 Indiana Ave, Lubbock, TX 79415

The exams Lubbock students take, in order

Texas Tech grants the MD, so its graduates take the USMLE. The school's program page sets no Step 1 date; what it does set is the order, an 18-month organ-system phase and then the clerkships (Texas Tech MD program), and Step 1 has been reported only as pass or fail since January 26, 2022. After the six clerkship shelf exams comes Step 2 CK, the scored exam residency programs read, and Step 3 is taken during residency.

Internal medicine residents in Lubbock eventually face the ABIM certification exam. Over 2023-2025 the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Lubbock program had 41 first-time takers, and 90% of them passed (ABIM).

Texas board rules for Lubbock graduates

Most Texas Tech graduates stay under the Texas Medical Board: 95.6% of the entering class are Texans (AAMC FACTS). FSMB lists that board as allowing 3 attempts at each USMLE Step or COMLEX Level, one fewer than the four per Step the USMLE program itself allows, and 7 years or more to finish the sequence, with exceptions the board explains on its own site (FSMB; USMLE eligibility rules).

Texas also asks for 1 year of postgraduate training before a first license, or 2 years for international graduates (FSMB). Every Texas school and the full rule text are on our Texas tutoring page.

How much Lubbock searches for board prep

Among US metro areas, Lubbock places 7th for “USMLE Step 2” searches (54 of 100) and 11th for plain “USMLE” (61), five years to October 2026 (Google Trends). The stronger Step 2 rank suits a school where Step 2 CK is the first scored exam after six back-to-back shelf exams. Trends scores compare places with one another and are not student counts.

• “USMLE”: number 11 among US metro areas, score 61 of 100
• “USMLE Step 2”: number 7 among US metro areas, score 54 of 100